Now for Something Completely Different (or not)!

Believe it or not, we made it from Ocean City to Norfolk without any actual or near catastrophes. Okay, we did have to turn back after our first departure from Ocean City due to the failure of the repair to the steering system. Shortly after leaving the inlet, I checked the steering fluid level and pressure and to my dismay noticed that both had steadily decreased. Instead of 20 to 30 pounds of pressure we had 10! We still had steering, however, and we turned the boat around immediately; being only about 5 miles out. With Pat at the helm, I checked the repair done by a local boat repair shop. I was more than a little disappointed to see a steady stream of hydraulic fluid seeping from the "repaired" area. Instead of the a compression fitting, the repairman had cut the copper tubing, slipped a hose over it and fastened it with hose clamps! I found that the hose clamps were not tight and by tightening them, I was able to stop the leak. This kept the pressure at 10 pounds and was adequate to steer the boat. To add more fluid would have meant lose of all steering for a period and to add pressure would have stressed an already poorly effected repair. So, we headed back, radioed the marina that we were returning and had Curley and John waiting to assist in docking.


After docking Curley asked if I was any good at carpentry. Puzzled, I answered that I was okay at it, "Why do you ask?" "Well," he said, "Since it looks like you guys like it here so much and are going to be around for a while, I thought I'd put you to work!" Very funny.


The irony of the situation is that in order to reassure both myself and my first (and hopefully last) mate that the steering was going to be be fixed right, I thought I would have someone more expert than myself do the repair. As captain, nevertheless, I am responsible for the work done on the boat. My only excuse is that I was led to believe that the repair had been completed using the proper fitting. I tested the steering over period of a couple of days. Both the pressure and the fluid level remained constant and we had full rudder control. I did not visually check the repairman's work, however. The leak in the line was under the Lectra-san, our on-board sewage treatment plant. To check the repair meant removing the unit along with the associated plumbing and the inevitable spilling of unprocessed 'yuk'! Given that all indications that the leak had been fixed, I didn't see the need to go to the trouble to do so. Obviously, that was a mistake.
The marina manager, John, gave me a ride to the local (10 miles away) NAPA store, where I bought some pressure fittings. I repaired the line in about 1/2 hour and it solved our problem.

The next day we headed out in calm seas and 50* temperatures. Although we couldn't sail, we had a pleasant overnight cruise to Norfolk, arriving at the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel/Bridge in a gray dawn. By 10:00 am we were tied up at the Little Creek Marina and eating breakfast at a local water side dive. Not only do boats float nearby, the eggs do as well. "Want a lit'l more grease on them eggs, honey?" Men were ordering "Red Eyes" as 'pick me ups'. For the uninitiated, a 'Red Eye' consist of 4 oz of beer, 1 1/2 oz vodka, 3 oz of tomato juice and a raw egg. A couple of those in the morning sets you up for the whole day (or at least until you get your lunch time beer and a shot). By the way, I had to look up the recipe.

Little Creek is home to the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Group and more significant for me, it was my brother Ken's base when he was in the Navy (where he was assigned duty as a a relief pitcher for the North Atlantic Fleet Baseball Team while his wife, Becky, worked full time). A deep channel and easy access makes this a convenient port entering the Chesapeake Bay area. Also, we felt pretty safe with the U.S. Navy to protect us.

Warm temperatures and friendly people made our brief stay there very enjoyable. No more ice and snow. Instead of boats being on the "hard" and "shrink wrapped" as they would be in Rhode Island, they were in the water! Many were decorated for the holidays with strings of lights and inflated snowmen, Santas and reindeer. This gave the marina a festive air. We had gone 24 hours without mishap and we had finally gotten the boat somewhere where we could work on it in warm temperatures for a change!